Drunk driving awareness campaign aims to keep roads safe during the holiday season

December 18, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Alliance Against Intoxicated Driving have launched an awareness campaign aimed to keep roads safer this holiday season.

The groups say there has been a steady decline in deadly drunk driving accidents over the last 30-years.

However, organizers say one crash is still too many.

"It's a problem that's always going to be around because people drink and it's socially acceptable& It's totally unacceptable to get behind the wheel if you've been drinking," said Rita Kreslin, Alliance Against Intoxicated Driving.

The groups hosted a vigil on Tuesday, and people from different walks of life came together to share the pain of losing a loved one to drunk driving.

"Every day I wake up and I'm hoping that it was a nightmare. I think it hasn't set in yet, really," said Toni Bostic, who attended the vigil at the Thompson Center.

Jameel Harris, Bostic's 35-year-old husband and father of three young boys, was killed on I-57 when a drunk driver rear-ended his vehicle.

His brother, Mikkal Harris, also present at the vigil.

"He wanted to teach entrepreneurship and corporate leadership to inner city kids and never got the opportunity to do that," Harris said.

Organizers of the event hope the event will help families cope with their losses while raising awareness.

"One in three families will be impacted by drunk drivers. So if you're sitting in a row of three people, it's not the two of them. It's going to be you," Susan McKeigue, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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illinois news, karen jordan

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